Ao Ashi Episode 21: Kaneda is too strong to be left unmarked

Ao Ashi episode 21 was simply a sports anime masterclass as we were taken into the depths of the match between Tokyo City Esperion Youth B team and Tokyo Musashino Youth FC. This episode had us understand each team’s tactics and what caused them to make any decision during their play.

Production I.G did an amazing job in maintaining the episode’s pace. No event within the episode felt drawn out as the emotions exhibited by the players were realistic. The use of light ominous music helped set the tone for the episode as Esperion was left confused with Musashino’s quick change in tactics.

To learn more about what happened in the episode, let’s take a deeper look.

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Ao Ashi Episode 21 has Musashino display their tenacity

Ashito in Ao Ashi Episode 21 (Image via Production I.G)

Ao Ashi episode 21 starts with a conversation between Satake Koji and Date Nozomi as they share their playing experience with each other. Satake expresses how it felt not to have the ‘it’ factor and how he was able to form such a strong team practically filled with rejects.

Later, we get a look at the Esperion players as they seem really tense during their warm-up. They have trained hard for the game but are too nervous due to their desire to win. This is when Takeshima heads off with a girl, only to later reveal himself to have shaved his hair off. He did so to psyche himself up and his team, and fortunately, it worked.

The game got kicked-off by Esperion as they started playing long balls to counter Musashino’s high press tactic. This worked a couple of times as Ashito and Takeshima were able to successfully send a couple of long balls to their strikers. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to score a goal.

However, Ashito's next long ball was unsuccessful as it led to a counter-attack by Musashino, which Togashi was able to fend off. Things started to feel ominous for Esperion as their long balls were no longer working with Musashino players picking them up.

Muto Chiaki in Ao Ashi Episode 21 (Image via Production I.G)

Ashito even had to foul Kaneda to stop a goal, causing him to get booked, with Musashino receiving a freekick. This is when Ashito overhears Musashino’s captain, Muto Chiaki instructing his players with a change in tactics. He is very calm and is seemingly a very good playmaker.

With Esperion hesitant with their tactics, one tiny error caused Kaneda to almost score a goal. This is when Esperion realized the threat Kaneda posed to them. He was very athletic and quick to react, which meant he could not be left unmarked, and Kuroda took the job.

While Kuroda was able to fend off the ball from Kaneda, the play was quickly overturned, causing Kaneda to display his skills and orchestrate an opening for the goal, which was headed-in by their captain.

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Final thoughts on Ao Ashi episode 21

Ao Ashi episode 21 showed how much of a danger Kaneda posed against Esperion. He had a strong build, was quick to react, and had the desire to crush the Esperion Youth team. While Esperion had trained hard to fend off Musashino’s high press, their tactics were quickly deemed useless.

Coach Satake from Ao Ashi Episode 21 (Image via Production I.G)

Unless Nozomi already has a plan against it or can formulate one quickly, Esperion could be facing a hard time. We can see how well Kuroda can man-mark, but that might not be enough to stop him. Meanwhile, Ashito has been performing his role brilliantly, which is a good thing, considering his lack of game time in the position.